International Law

Just Security offers expert analysis of international law and its role in addressing global challenges. Our coverage includes litigation in international and regional tribunals, the process of international law-making, analysis of compliance and accountability for international law violations–including international criminal justice, and challenges to the international legal order.

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3,511 Articles
Young refugees from Honduras and Guatemala walk through marsh land around the Rio Grande river as they disembark an inflatable boat on March 28, 2021.

Why Must Central American Asylum Seekers Risk Their Lives to Reach the US? There is an Alternative.

Cold War politics continues to shut out Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Salvadorans from the US Refugee Admissions Program. That needs to change.
A U.S. soldier mans a gun at the back gate aboard the helicopter carrying U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis as he arrives via helicopter at Resolute Support headquarters on April 24, 2017 in in Kabul, Afghanistan.

National Security This Week at the United Nations (April 9-16)

US and NATO Plan to Withdraw Troops from Afghanistan; Taliban Withdraws from Planned Peace Talks in Istanbul President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday that he plans to begin withdrawing…
U.S. President Joe Biden stands at a podium and announces new economic sanctions against the Russia government from the East Room of the White House on April 15, 2021 in Washington, DC. A chandelier-type lamp and multiple flags stand behind him.

SolarWinds: Accountability, Attribution, and Advancing the Ball

Assessing the United States' actions on SolarWinds and what it means for global responses to malicious cyber activities in future.
The E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, in Washington, DC, as seen from the sky.

Don’t Place Judicial Accountability In The Dark

Efforts to ensure the safety and security of federal judges – including by shielding certain personal information, such as addresses, from public disclosure – are sadly necessary…
The International Criminal Court's (ICC) chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, holds a press conference during her visit to look into allegations of extreme violence on May 3, 2018 in Kinshasa.

Congress Must Reform Sanctions Law to Avoid ICC Penalties from Happening Again

Reversing the sanctions the Trump administration placed on International Criminal Court leaders is not enough to prevent something like that from happening again.
Iraqi fighters of the Hashed al-Shaabi units stand guard during a campaign gathering for the Fateh Alliance, a coalition of Iranian-supported militia groups, in Baghdad on May 7, 2018, ahead of Iraq's parliamentary elections to be held on May 12. Some hold weapons, and a few sit on the ground.

Team of Legal Gladiators? Iraqi Militias’ Tortured Relationship with Law

The country's Iran-backed militias are not law-abiding, but they know Iraqis care about rule of law and have adopted the law as a battlespace.
Security Council members hold a videoconference in connection with Maintenance of international peace and security.

National Security Last Week at the United Nations (April 2-9)

United States Lifts Sanctions Against ICC Officials On April 2, President Joe Biden reversed one of former President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which imposed sanctions…
Beji Caid Essebsi Tunisian President; Alpha Conde President of the Republic of Guinea, Faure Gnassingbe President of the Republic of Togo; Paul Kagame President of the Republic of Rwanda; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz; Abdelfattah al-Sisi Egyptian President; Alassane Ouattara Ivory Coast president; Macky Sall President of the Republic of Senegal; Patrice Talon President of the Republic of Benin and President of the African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina; Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz; Abiy Ahmed Ali Ethiopian Prime Minister; International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde; Nana Akufo-Addo President of the Republic of Ghana; Cyril Ramaphosa South African President; World Bank President Jim Yong Kim; African Union (AU) Commission representative Moussa Faki Mahamat and Morocco's Finance Minister Mohamed Benchaaboun pose for a picture during the "Compact with Africa" conference on trade, aid and diplomacy on October 30, 2018 at the Chancellery in Berlin.

What Are the Stakes of the Upcoming Elections in Benin?

Since becoming the first country in Africa to overthrow a military dictator by democratic means, the Republic of Benin has been a highly stable and robust democracy, widely renowned…
Secretary of State Blinken stands a podium in front of American flags.

Full Burial Now Needed for Executive Order Against International Criminal Court

"Executive Order 13928 requires a burial so deep, so final, that never again will the United States, nor any other country, deem it a permissible policy option."
Exterior View of the new International Criminal Court building in The Hague on July 30, 2016 in The Hague The Netherlands.

BREAKING: Biden Revokes Executive Order Sanctioning Int’l Criminal Court Principals

Beth Van Schaack lauds the development and puts it in context of other human rights developments.
A displaced Syrian girl looks around at the camp created by Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) in Kafr Lusin village on the border with Turkey in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib on March 10, 2020. Tents and laundry hang behind her.

Renouncing Reprisals: An Opportunity for the Biden Administration

The United States claims the legal right to attack civilians and objects indispensable to their survival in certain situations. Biden can reverse that, and an opportunity to do…
NZDF troops remove the New Zealand flag from a base in Afghanistan.

Opportunity Missed: New Zealand Defense Force’s Order on Civilian Harm in Wartime

On Feb. 11, 2021, the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) announced new rules on responding to civilian harm. Defence Force Order 35 (DFO 35) introduces NZDF-wide procedures for responding…
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